Social Media

Oneok Sues Twitter For Trademark Infringement [Update: Dropped]

*Update: The lawsuit has been quickly dropped by Oneok, probably because Twitter simply removed the account in question.

Natural gas distributor Oneok Inc. has sued Twitter for trademark infringement. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Tulsa, said that Twitter had allowed an anonymous user to use the user name ONEOK, a company's trademark.

It's hard to expect Twitter - or any other online service - to police the usernames of its users, forbidding the use of every copyrighted and trademarked word out there. However, in the lawsuit, Oneok claims that the Oneok Twitter account holder has on at least two occasions generated tweets containing information about the company, which can be potentially harmful for the company's reputation.

While Oneok's lawsuit seems a bit far-fetched, this is precisely why Twitter had launched verified accounts, but the feature is only open for public officials, public agencies, and well known individuals. It's not open for businesses yet, probably because Twitter has other plans when it comes to business accounts. But they'll have to hurry it up if lawsuits such as this one keep coming.

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